NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Padres Lose More Than Three Games to Giants

The San Francisco Giants are on the road to recovery and the San Diego Padres hope that All-Star catcher Benito Santiago will take the same route.

Kevin Mitchell doubled twice and drove in three runs as the Giants beat the Padres, 6-2, Thursday to sweep the three-game series at San Diego.

The Padres also lost Santiago, who sustained a broken left forearm when he was hit by a pitch. He is expected to be out six weeks.

The Giants have won 14 of their last 15, including a 6-1 road trip, and trail second-place San Diego by one-half game in the West.

“I think it’s a combination of everything,” Giant Manager Roger Craig said. “We hit the ball. We had great defense and we got some good clutch pitching. Things are starting to go good for us.”

The Giants outscored the Padres, 19-4, in the series, cooling off a club that had won seven of its first 10 games on a now-concluded 13-game home stand.

Kevin Mitchell hit doubles in the seventh and eighth innings to drive in three runs. He’s hitting .309 with 36 RBIs.

“We never lost confidence in ourselves,” said Mitchell about a team that played 8-12 ball for the month of April and lost its first eight home games. “We knew things were going to turn around for us. All we had to do was just get it together.”

The Padres will have to do the same without Santiago, who was batting .317 with nine homers and 33 RBIs. He was injured when he was hit by a pitch from Jeff Brantley while pinch-hitting in the seventh inning. He was put on the 21-day disabled list.

Cincinnati 4, Atlanta 3--Barry Larkin singled home Paul O’Neill with two out in the ninth inning at Cincinnati.

O’Neill drew a two-out walk from Joe Boever (1-3) and took third on Billy Hatcher’s single to left, his fourth hit of the game.

The Reds took a 3-2 lead into the ninth, but Rob Dibble (4-1) gave up the tying run as Dale Murphy, who had only two hits in 15 at-bats in the series, singled home Ron Gant. Dibble has blown five of his 11 save opportunities this season.

The start of the game was delayed 43 minutes by rain, and a shower brought another 34-minute delay after Hatcher led off the bottom of the first inning with a single.

Montreal 3, St. Louis 2--Mike Fitzgerald singled home the tying run with two out in the top of the ninth inning, and Tim Raines drew a bases-loaded walk from Ken Dayley to force home the go-ahead run at St. Louis.

Tom Niedenfuer (0-2) relieved starter Bryn Smith to start the ninth with a 2-1 lead. Larry Walker led off with a single and, with one out, Spike Owen walked.

Dayley relieved and Fitzgerald, batting for Delino DeShields, singled on a 1-2 pitch. After a wild pitch and a walk to Dave Martinez, Raines walked on a full count.